[finnman69]

This should be fun. Imagine the entertainment at the airport.

[freedomlover]

Jeez all they would have to do is to add up the stated weights on the drivers licenses . . and then add 40%

[Mr. Bird]

I remember a gimmick restaurant that would weigh customers and charge them accordingly. It was an all you can eat type place (I think), and it was like a nickel a pound or something. Ladies could pay extra to NOT get weighed!

[Senormechanico]

Bumpersticker on the airplane:

NO FAT CHICKS

[RobRoy]

It's about time!

[Arrowhead1952]

Rosie O'Donnell will never be allowed on another airplane again.......

[Servant of the 9]

I hope they weigh them with their carry on luggage.

Planes today are beginning to look like a Mexican Bus, with everything but the crates of live chickens carried aboard.

So9

[Saundra Duffy]

Glad I lost those 15 pounds. When I hop on JetBlue to go to DC for the Second Amendment Sisters rally on Mother's Day, I don't care if they weigh me right in front of everyone.

[cc2k]

I like the humorous comments here.

But as a solution to the actual problem, this isn't really the best idea.

Electronic scales (heavy duty ones) are really pretty inexpensive today (especially compared to airplanes and lawsuits). A better solution would be to require commercial carriers to have scale pads under the landing gear at the gate. That way, the pilot and crew could know that the plane isn't overloaded, and that the weight distribution is within acceptable parameters, before pulling away from the gate. Also, you wouldn't have to embarass the customers.

[ErnBatavia]

This should be fun. Imagine the entertainment at the airport.

Do Senators this high profile fly commercial?

[Squawk 8888]

Sounds like the reporter doesn't know what he's talking about. There are different standard weights for adult male, adult female, children and infants. The standard weights are higher in winter to allow for clothes and there's an admonition in the AIP to add 30 pounds per person when carrying "a group of large males (such as a football team). Also, why is the crash being blamed on a bad "estimate" of the baggage weight? The baggage is weighed at check-in so it would not be an error in estimation, it's a calculation error.

What really concerns me is the proposed requirement to occasionally weigh passengers only for aicraft carrying 10 or more pax. Balance is more critical for smaller aircraft so a more sensible rule would be to weigh the self-loading cargo for aircraft with fewer than 50 seats.

All that aside, it would probably be a good idea to revise the standard weights. People (especially Americans) are getting heavier and that does affect safety.

[nightdriver]

"First, the airline's guidelines for estimating the weight of passengers and baggage were inaccurate. The pilots, therefore, didn't realize the plane's rear section was too heavy.

"Second, mechanics had improperly rigged cables connected to the elevator, the tail flap that controls the up-and-down direction of the aircraft's nose."

These are both "pilot errors" in my estimation. I have been asked to change seats on a small feeder airliner for weight and balance considerations and what pilot doesn't check his control surfaces for proper movement and travel before every flight, especially after it has been re-rigged?

[Thud]

Guess Your Weight!

They should announce it over loudspeakers too.

[swarthyguy]

Not far enough.

Tickets should be priced by bodyweight.

Why should I pay for the extra fuel to lift that fattie into the air?

[traumer]

Embarrassing for some ? Perhaps...

But makes a perfect sense for the safety of the plane.